Digital Home Thoughts: Intel Showcases TV Widgets

"It is a massive effort, and it does appear to be helping drive a slow increase in Blu-ray sales. However, I remain largely unconvinced that Blu-ray is anything more, at least right now, than something folks occasionally use to showcase their wonderful new TVs. That could change, though. I just got a presentation from Intel's Digital Home group that suggests that by early next year, I may become a convert."

Rob Enderle laments the difficulties in using Blu-ray but his mind is opening to a new technology from Intel that might help boost Blu-ray player sales; TV Widgets. Unfortunately, I think that this may only serve to muddle the market further and create more frustration. First, TV Widgets do not address any of the problems that Enderle has from being able to play a full length Blu-ray on his laptop on battery power to the lack of manufacturer-sourced Blu-ray players integrated into cars. Second, while techno geeks may appreciate added functionality to Blu-ray players, exploiting the latent power within them, I tend to think that most people just want a simple device that plays movies. I could easily see more than one person getting confused and increasingly frustrated trying to add widgets, or get rid of them from his TV. Adding features is great, but we are still living in a world where user interfaces need a considerable amount of work first.